History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 14

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1532

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" Artillery and picket firing continued through the entire twelve days during which the lines at Cold Harbor were held, and casualties occurred in the reg- iment almost daily.

"The ranking officer* of the regiment, after the death of Col. Kellogg, was Lieut .- Col. James Hub- bard, to whom Governor Buckingham immediately forwarded a commission as colonel. Hubbard, how- ever, was unwilling to assume the responsibility of the command. In common with all the officers and men, he was worn out. The purely murderous charge of June Ist was our first, and thus far our only, fight- ing experience, and Lieut .- Col. Hubbard drew the hasty inference that all the fighting was likely to con- sist in a similar walking right into the jaws of hell. He afterwards found that this was a mistake. During the ten months which followed, the regiment was in the hottest of many a hot fight, and did its wholo duty, but it never found nnother Cold Harbor. Col. Upton advised him to head a recommendation from his officers for the appointment of Randal S. Macken-

zie, a graduate of West Point, and captain of engi- neers, who was then on some duty at army headquarters. Hubbard called a meeting of his officers and laid the matter before them. They unanimously opposed the proposition ; but he assured them he should deeline the colonelcy, and at his request all the officers joined him in recommending to Governor Bueking- ham the appointment of Capt. Mackenzie. The recommendation was forwarded 'through the regular channel,' favorably indorsed by Upton, Russell, Wright, Meade, and Grant; and on the 6th of June Col. Mackenzie appeared and assumed command.

"New and strong lines of breastworks were built at Cold Harbor during the 10th, 11th, and 12th of June, and it began to be the general opinion that the place was to be permanently occupied and fortified. By the term 'general opinion' I mean the opinion along the line ; and that was not always well founded. Things had changed in the Army of the Potomac since the peninsular campaign, and it was not now the enstom to inform the rank and file, and the news- papers, and the enemy, of intended movements. Work was continued on the breastworks, by large details of soldiers, until almost the hour of leaving Cold Har- bor,-probably to protect the withdrawing troops in ease of attack. It was nearly midnight on the 12th of June when we found ourselves in motion on the road to White House, and innumerable were the conjectures as to our destination. The night was in- tensely dark, and after having marched a mile or two we beeame entangled with the Second Corps (which was also in motion) in such a manner that there would have been ugly work in the event of an attack. But at length the difficulty was overcome, and we moved rapidly on until morning, when the sun indi- eated that our destination must be some other place than White House, for we were marching south- east instead of northeast. By seven o'clock that evening we had marched thirty miles, and were en- eamped a mile and a half south of the Chieknhominy, and six miles from Charles City Court-house. On the 14th we marched at seven o'clock A.M., and en- eamped about noon not far from the river. On the 15th we moved a mile and a half. On the 16th moved again a short distance ; heard firing for the first and only time since lenving Cold Harbor ; threw up a line of breastworks, and took a bath in the river. It was the only luxury we had had for weeks. Troops were embarking all day at the landing, and at midnight we went aboard,-half the companies on one transport, and half on another,-and soon were so quietly and pleasantly gliding up the broad and beautiful river that imagination and memory could make it seem, for n moment now and then, like some plensure excursion on the Hudson or Long Island Sound.

" Companies C, D, F, I, L, and MI disembarked soon after sunrise at Point of Rocks, ou the Appomattox ; while the other transport, being a little too late for

. Maj. Nathaniel Smith was promoted to lieutenant colonel upon the change lo artillery, nud resigned for disability, May 6, 1864.

HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

the tide, landed A, B, E, G, H, and K at Bermuda Hundred, whence, after a march of three miles, they joined the others, and hivouacked until noon. In the afternoon we moved two miles farther, and encamped in the woods, in the neighborhood of the Sixth and Seventh Connecticut, and the First Connecticut Ar- tillery. At one o'clock next morning we moved out, marehed a mile or two in the darkness, halted, and stood in ominous silence for a few minutes while mounted officers rode silently by, after which we returned by the same way to camp. It has always been supposed that this move was intended for a eharge, which, for some reason not known (but which would doubtless have been deemed abundantly suffi- cient by the regiment, if their opinion had been asked), was not made.

" Reveille was sounded next morning* at three o'elock, rations issued, and orders received to be ready to move at four; but the "pack-up" bugle did not sound until five. Such delays may or may not cost a campaign ; they are always welcome to soldiers while cooking their breakfast. After marching back for some distance towards the Point of Rocks, and cross- ing the Appomattox by a ponton, we moved directly towards the city of Petersburg.

" In the afternoon we movedt to Harrison's Creek and relieved a portion of Hinks' Brigade of colored troops, who were holding a line of rifle-pits which, together with two guns, they had captured four days before.

" The day was Sunday, - and what a Sunday I Shells whistled and muskets rattled, both to the right and left, as far as the ear could reach. Petersburg and its inner defenses were in plain sight; and if our troops had not captured the city, we had at least got so near that it would be an uncomfortable place for trade and residence unless we could be pushed farther off. After dark (for no such move could be made by daylight) the regiment moved down a steep bank in front of Harrison's house, relieved the Eleventh Con- necticut, and took position on the eastern edge of a broad, level wheat-field. The minie-balls that came singing along overhead with a Kee-ooh ! 00-00, told that the enemy held the opposite side of the wheat- field, and no time was lost in 'covering.' Spades did not come for a long time, and only a few of them at last. Tons of loamy earth were thrown, all night long, with coffee-pots, bayonets, hands, and shovels whittled out of hard-tack boxes. Pickets were sent ahead several rods into the field, and three men sta- tioned at each post. The 'posts' were holes dug in the ground by bayonets and fingers. The deeper the

hole, the higher the bank of earth in front; and the pickets very naturally kept digging to strengthen their position. The tall wheat rustled with ripeness as they moved through it to and from their posts. Are these men who lie here and there dead or asleep? Here is one who, at all events, has krinkled and spoiled a good deal of wheat in settling down to his rest. Is he a reb or one of our men ? It is difficult to tell, on account of the darkness, but that is the Union blne. Take bold of his arm. Ah! there is a certain stiff- ness that decides the point at once. He probably answered to his name this morning at the roll-call of the Eleventh Connecticut; but he will not do so to- morrow morning.

" The first and second battalions dug all night. The third went to the rear about nine o'clock, and lay in some old rifle-pits, but were ordered to the front again just after midnight to help dig. The city cloeks could be heard tolling the night-hours away, for they were not so far off as Camp Dutton from Litch- field Hill. The morningt revealed a magnificent line of earthworks which had grown up in the night for our protection. Had they sprung by magic, like the palace of some Arabian fable? No. Our worn and weary men knew where they came from.

"This was the most intolerable position the regi- ment was ever required to hold. We had seen a dead- lier spot at Cold Harbor, and others awaited us in the future ; but they were agonies that did not last. Here, however, we had to stay, hour after hour, from before dawn until after dark, and that too where we could not move a rod without extreme danger. The enemy's front line was parallel with ours, just across the wheat-field ; then they had numerous sharpshooters, who were familiar with every acre of the ground, perched in tall trees on both our flanks; then they had artillery posted everywhere. No man could cast his eyes over the parapet or expose himself ten feet in rear of the trench without drawing fire. And yet they did thus expose themselves ; for where there are even chances of being missed or hit, soldiers will take the chances rather than lie still and suffer from thirst, snpineness, and want of all things. 'Keep down !' roared Maj. Skinner at a man who seemed bent on making a target of himself. 'Tell John Meramble to stop putting his head over,' said Col. Mackenzie, 'or he will get it knocked off.' Harvey Pease, of Company H, straightened himself up and essayed to walk, but was struck in the head before he had taken five steps, and fell like a log. Matthias Walter, of Company D, was wounded in the thigh by a sharp- shooter. John Grieder, of D, received a fatal wound in the thigh from a piece of three-inch shell. Corp. Disbrow, of H, was hit in the shoulder; and other casualties occurred, until there were eleven in all. There was no getting to the rear until zigzag passages were dug, and then the wounded were borne off. A

* June 19, 1864.

t The term "we," which so frequently occurs in this volume, is used sometimes for the regiment, sometimes for the brigade, division, corps, or army, according to circumstances. And the writer himself does not always know how large a "we" it is. The whole of Russell's Division moved in at lfarrison's Creek; but whether the other two divisions of the corps were there the limited range of vision enjoyed by n regimental officer did not enable the writer to know.

# June 20, 1864.

MILITARY HISTORY.

new relief of pickets had gone on just before day- break, and each man was notified to have two can- teens of water, because they must remain until night. Reader, do you like to drink warm water? Then en- list in the next war, and stay twelve hours in a hole iu the ground, without shelter from the fierceness of a Virginia sun in June, with bullets passing two feet above your head, with dead bodies broiling all around you, and with two tin canteens of muddy water,

" The day wore on, and welcome darkness came at last, giving us a chance to stand erect. Our occupa- tion continued during the night and the next day, the regiment being divided into two reliefs, the one off duty lying a little to the rear, in a corn-field near Harrison's house. But it was a question whether 'off" or 'on' duty was the more dangerous. During the day* Col. Mackenzie directed his staff-officers to occupy separate shelter tents, and to leave him in one by himself, in order to diminish the 'chances' of in- jury, When one of them looked into his tent an hour afterwards he pointed to a hole through his straw hat, remarking that if any one else had been there some- body would have been hurt. Frequent shells came just overhead and plunged into the corn-field behind us. Company E had a man killed, and K had several wounded. A three-inch shell struck right among the boys of Company H and threw dirt into their coffee, but did not explode. The only shot that was ever unmistakably meant for the author of this history, so far as he knows, was on that day. There was a well in front of Harrison's house, covered by a roof, which was supported by four posts. The writer was sitting and drinking with his head leaning against one of these posts, when a musket-ball buried itself with a 'tunk' in the wood just about four inches too high to prevent the writing of this history. I have ever since had some desire to see that well. If the post is still there, I am quite sure it contains lead.

" At eight in the evening we were relieved by the Eighth Connecticut, and there saw the brave and noble Lieut. Seth F. Plumb, of that regiment, for the last time. Moving by the left-in-front (which, by the way, was the order of march all the way from Spott- sylvania to Petersburg), we crossed the City Point Railroad, passed Grant's headquarters, and marched by a semi-circular route towards the east, southeast, south, and west until three in the morning, when we bivouacked, not much farther from Petersburg than before. How can we march so far and yet go so little way? was the question here, as it had been between the Tolopotomy and Cold Harbor. At eight o'clock in the morningt we entered the woods, and after sun- dry moves and halts came to a square, open field surrounded on all sides by thick woods, where the brigade was disposed in two lines. An officer and twenty men were immediately sent out by Mackenzie, with orders to push into the woods directly in front,

and find the left of the Second Corps pickets. They were soon found, and the line was extended from the left by details from our regiment. Upton and Russell were both out in the jungle on foot, to see the connec- tion made. Soon afterwards the first line of the bri- gade, which contained our regiment, was advanced into the dense wood, perhaps two hundred yards, the second line being not far behind, and a few min- utes later the pickets were engaged in a sharp skir- mish with Hill's rebel division close in our front, which resulted in a loss to the Second Connecticut of six killed, seven wounded (several of them mortally), and six missing, some of whom were afterwards heard from at Andersonville. Mackenzie had two fingers shot off and afterwards amputated. A good deal of ma- nouvring followed which was difficult to understand. We retired to the open lot, moved about a regiment's length to the right, and advanced again, somewhat farther than before, into a wilderness of woods, bushes, brambles, and vines so thick that a man could hardly see his neighbor. This position became a permanent picket-line, while the main line was established the next day# along the open field in the rear, and daily strengthened until it became impregnable. Here, as at Cold Harbor, there was no telling where we were until the day after the fight. Kellogg, Wadhams, and the multitude who fell with them on the 1st of June, never knew that they fell at 'Cold Harbor,'-indeed, most of them never heard that name, which has since become so familiar to their surviving friends. And so with the victims and the survivors of June 22d. Pine woods, with a jungle of undergrowth, extended to an unknown distance in every direction, and the only data from which any sort of reckoning coukl be made were the sun and the moon and the firing. Time revealed the fact that we were about three miles south of Petersburg, and a mile east of the Weldon Railroad, which the enemy held.

Here, then, the Army of the Potomac settled down to stay. The little barricado of rails where Knight, Hempstead, Guernsey, and many others had found their deaths grew day by day into breastworks, par- allels, batteries, and mighty forts which all the artil- lery of the world could not shake. The enemy began to fortify with equal strength, and henceforth there was more digging than fighting. The seventeen day's following the 22d of June furnished several episodes which might have grown (but happily did not) into events that would have required a chapter instead of a few lines,-such, for example, as moving out on the night of the 23d and massing for a charge; building breastworks all night on the 24th ; marching to Reams' Station on the 20th to support troops that were tear- ing up eight miles of track; and being under arms before daylight, on the 6th of July, in anticipation of an attack. Nevertheless, these were days of compar- ative rest, quiet, and comfort. Cumps were regularly

· June 21, 1804.

+ June :2, 1804.

: Juno 23, ISCI.

HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

laid out and well policed. The band and drum corps encamped with the regiment, which was an infallible sign that danger had evacuated. Each company dug a well in the clay and provided it with an old- fashioned 'sweep;' and, inasmuch as the deepest well drained all the rest, they were constantly scoop- ing out deeper and deeper. The commissary-wagons came up, and rations consisted of hard-taek, salt pork, coffee, sugar, potatoes, pepper, salt, and rice. The sutlers also-those noble patriots-drew near, and the soldiers renewed their almost-forgotten acquaintance with sardines, bologna, bolivars, condensed milk (sixty cents per can), canned fruits, and a kind of bog hay tea, which, after all, was tea. The region abounded in young pines from one to three inches in diameter, and every man liad a bedstead con- structed of these pine ' poles,' while the long, needle- shaped pine leaves made bedding which, if not luxu- rious, was certainly better than none. And thus the Second Connecticut Heavy Artillery played its part on the theatre of war, until a sudden bugle blast on the night of the 9th of July announced a shifting of the scene. The regiment was then ordered to City Point.

" The morning of July 10, 1864, found us-the First and Second Divisions of the Sixth Corps, perhaps twelve thousand men in all - embarking at City Point as fast as the transports could get up to the dock, load, and move off, en route to Washington to defend the capital from the expected attack of Gen. Early.

" We passed Alexandria just after sunrise of the 12th, reached Washington at six o'clock, and marched di- rectly up Seventh Street. At ten in the evening the regiment marched two or three miles up the road, by Fort De Russy, to Fort Kearney, and after much shifting lay down on their arms to sleep. In the morning Companies C and H were sent to man a battery, but returned in half an hour. Early had learned of the presence of the Sixth Corps, and also of the Nineteenth (Emory's), which had opportunely arrived from New Orleans; and he concluded not to capture the capital and Capitol, Congress and ar- chives, arsenal and navy-yard, Lincoln and Cabinet, until (as Pollard says), 'another and uncertain time.' He had begun his retreat towards Snicker's Gap, and pursuit was instantly made by the Sixth and a divi- sion of the Nineteenth Corps, under command of Gen. Wright. Our brigade moved up the river at 2.20 P.M., and bivouacked late in the evening near Potomac Cross-Roads. Next morning" we moved at half-past five, but not mueh progress was made for some hours, on account of a handful of rebel cavalry, who annoyed our advance and covered the enemy's retreat. Two of them were captured. But after noon the pace was quickened, and, it being intensely hot, the march was very severe. Mackenzie stormed at

the company commanders on account of the strag- gling, but it was no use. The men fell out inees- santly. At seven in the evening we were only two hours behind the graybacks, whose rear-guard, as we learned from citizens, had skirmished over that region during the afternoon.

"On the 16th we forded the Potomac at Edwards' Ferry, and after marching through Leesburg and a mile beyond encamped in plain sight of the rebels. During this entire march they kept moving as fast as we approached, manifesting little or no disposition to dispute our progress ; and there was a delay in the pursuit which Mr. Greeley, in his 'History of the American Conflict,' characterizes as 'timid and fee- ble.' It was certainly neither timid nor feeble after Ricketts came up with his Third Division on the 17th. Starting before sunrise, the entire force moved all day and had nearly all passed through Snicker's Gap at sunset. The top of the Blue Ridge, overhanging the gap, afforded an excellent position for counting our troops, and several rebels, thus occupied, were captured. As we reached the middle of the gap we caught our first glimpse of the beautiful Shenandoah valley, with which we were destined, before long, to have an intimate and bloody acquaintance. Lively artillery-firing could be seen npon a knoll a couple of miles to the west, and sharp musketry heard to the right of it. We cleared the gap, filed to the right into a blind, steep, and narrow defile, which suddenly became almost impassably blocked by troops who had been driven by the enemy, and were in confused re- treat. Having forced a passage through them, we reached an open field sloping to the Shenandoah River, and encamped. Nothing remarkable occurred the next day, except an issue of three days' rations, including beans and dried apples, with instructions to make them last five days. On the 20th we forded the Shenandoah,-which was about four feet deep, and as wide as the Housatonic at New Milford,-and moved towards Berryville, left in front. The Second Con- necticut was the advance regiment of the advance brigade, and a portion of it was deployed as skir- mishers and marched through the fields parallel with the column, and about forty rods on the right of it. Few of the regiment will ever forget the shower that soaked us that day. A halt was made in the woods not far from Berryville, and foraging-parties detailed, who secured a large quantity of bacon, vegetables, and meal. There must have been some conflict or misnn- derstanding in the foraging orders, for Lieut. Warren Alford, who was on his way to camp with several head of cattle and a barrel of flour, was directed by Gen. Russell to take them back where he found them. Cavalry scouts reported no enemy within eight miles, and at midnight the column moved eastward. The river was forded again by bright moonlight, and the gap passed before day. It seems to have been the presumption (an erroneous one) that Early, having succeeded in decoying a large army into the valley on

* July 14, 1864.

MILITARY HISTORY.

a wild-goose chase, was now hurrying back to Peters- burg to enable Lee to strike a heavy blow at Grant before the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps could be moved back to City Point. This, then, was the ex- planation of our return through Snicker's Gap.

" The march back to Washington was severe enough to be called a forced march. Moseby's guerillas were close upon our rear, and although straggling was continually punished by rail-carrying, yet a vast number of stragglers were 'gobbled' by the enemy, and doubtless found their way to Andersonville or some other prison. Tenallytowu was reached, by way of Chain Bridge, on the 23d, and the stiff, lame, sore, tired, hungry men found thirty-six hours' rest, new clothing, new shoes, soft bread, and surreptitious whisky, for all of which they were truly thankful ; also cross-cannon to adorn their hats, for which they would have been more thankful if this brazen badge had not been to them such a bitter mockery.

" But it suddenly secmed as though the cross-cannon were to be no longer a mockery. The powers at Washington had been pretty well shaken up by the thunder of the enemy's guns at the gates of the capi- tal, and they resolved that the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps should not embark for Petersburg again with- out leaving at least a few troops to reinforce the in- valids and hundred-days men. For this purpose the Second Connecticut Heavy Artillery was detached from the Sixth Corps and ordered to report to Gen. De Russy, at Arlington.

" July 25, 1864, the regiment moved through George- town, across Aqueduct Bridge, up to Fort Corcoran, and by noon the companies were distributed at the same cleven forts which they had garrisoned for forty-eight hours before going to the front in May. The Ohio regiment of hundred-days men which had relieved us in May and was still there, with its gawky officers, moved out and turned over its comfortable barracks, bunks, cook-houses, and light duties to those who were able to appreciate them.

"From this time until the following September the time was principally passed in marching and countermarching.

"September 2d found us at Clifton, where we en- camped and remained for two weeks, drilling and preparing for the grapple which was hidden in the immediate future.

" At three o'clock on the morning of the 19th of September the advance was in motion. Our brigade started from Clifton about daylight, and, having struck the Berryville pike, moved five or six miles towards Winchester, and halted for an hour about two miles east of the Opequan, while the Nineteenth Corps was crossing. The cavalry had previously moved to secure all the crossings, and firing was now heard all along the front, and continually increasing. The Sixth and Nineteenth Corps, following Wil- son's cavalry, which fought the way, crossed at and near the pike bridge, our brigade wading the stream

a few rods north of it. West of the creek the pike passed through a gorge over a mile long, from which the rebels had been driven by the cavalry. The Nineteenth Corps and a portion of our own had moved through it and formed a line of battle some distance beyond, under a heavy artillery-fire, when our division emerged from the gorge and filed to the left into a ravine that ran across the pike, where it was held in readiness as a reserve. This was about half-past nine. The fighting now waxed hotter, louder, nearer; nevertheless, some of the men found time while their muskets were stacked in this ravine to dig potatoes from a neighboring field. At length the enemy made a vigorous charge upon the centre of the front line, at the point where the Third Brigade of the Second Division joined the left of the Nine- teenth Corps. The line broke and retreated in com- plete disorder, cach broken flank doubling and crowd- ing back on itself and making for the rear. The enemy pushed its advantage and eame rolling into the breach. It was the critical moment of the day ; for if he had succeeded in permanently separating the two parts of the line, there would have been no possible escape from utter defeat for Sheridan's army. At this juncture Gen. Russell, who was watching from the rise of ground just in front of the ravine where his division lay, exclaimed, 'Look here, it is about time to do something! Upton, bring on your brigade.' The brigade was at once moved out of the ravine, passed through a narrow strip of woods, crossed the pike, halted for a moment in order to close and dress up compactly, then went at a double quick by the right flank into the gap that had been made in the first line, and made a short halt, just in rear of a piece of woods, out of which the remnants of the Second and Third Divisions were still retreating, and on the other side of which was the advancing line of Rodes' and Gordon's rebel divisions. The first fire that struck our brigade and regiment during the day was while coming to this position. Gen. Russell was killed by a shell at the same time, having been pre- viously wounded and refused to leave the field. It was this movement of our brigade that checked the enemy until the lines were restored and the two or three thousand fugitives brought back. Some of our men began to fire, but were quickly ordered to desist. After a very few minutes the brigade was pushed for- ward, the left half of it being somewhat covered by woods, from which position it instantly opened a terrific fire, while the Second Connecticut, which constituted the right halt, passed to the right of the woods into an open field of uneven surface, and halted on a spot where the ground was depressed enough to afford a little protection, and only a little ; for several men were hit while lying there, as well ns others while getting there. In three minutes the regiment again advanced, passed over a knoll, lost several more men, and halted in another hollow spot similar to the first. The enemy's advance had now

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History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 14

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1532

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1532